Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20151113

[applause] good afternoon welcome and they give you for joining us today on the topic of critical importance. I am president of the United States institute of peace with the critical moment to this serious conflict to threaten not of the regional political will security with the arrival of refugees in europe that there is 60 Million People displaced by conflict and 12 million are syrian. And estimates suggest what quarter have been killed in the civil war today. One of the pressing tragedies of our time United States has been the leading donor of humanitarian assistance over the last five years by growing more bloody and complex by the day the Global Community mr. Jett they Work Together to provide desperately needed civilian production to achieve a meaningful and lasting pay peace with the community and the commitment we read never again turn a blind eye let that systematic violence of human suffering come forward so i am honored to welcome to the u. S. Institute of peace they committed leader and a vocal advocate for diplomacy over his years of Public Service the senate chair and not United States secretary of state thomas secretary kerry knows better of most the value of American Leadership in the importance of Building Partnerships to meet the most pressing challenges tireless in his dedication to peace and security and i understand immediately following this meeting he will get on another plane to head overseas for another round to create peace is in syria. Please join me to welcome secretary kerry to discuss the strategy of policy in syria and his vision for this conflict. [applause] they give very, very much a apologize to be a couple of minutes late and i am delighted to see our friends am pleased it is great period three to be here want to thank for hosting this afternoon to fly long distances which is no less dangerous to walk across twothirds street this institute is a spectacular plays to reach the pivotal age of 30 i say that as some of you may remember not to trust anybody over 30. But given that i am twice that age my message is dont believe everything your tot. [laughter] the truth is under the leadership of nancy and build this institute is hitting its stride as a force for reconciliation and conflict resolution. Increasingly effective and a place where smart and energetic people come to help others and i am confident that will remain the case for many decades to come. Congratulations and then i expect all of you to go back to work. [laughter] another reason i am to be here is stated boldly in the name of this institute of peace. Across the street in the harry truman building there are thousands of men and women whose big about peace and especially but it would mean to the millions of people who live without it including many who have never in their entire lives have actually known it. And as a veteran i personally believe it is as worthy of that of a pursuit the matter how hard it is to achieve the intent is guided by principle or realistic vision is always worthwhile. And i hope they got i did not bother to stop people from killing each other. So it should not be a surprise that peace is the major theme this afternoon with my remarks. These are extremely complicated times end i a appreciate the sharia law summit our leaders will with an agenda that the United States of america is today engaged in more areas of the world with more partners in a time in history that is not exaggeration. Along with the pacific rim we have negotiated a landmark trade pact to buy together 40 of a Global Economy based on Environmental Standards and 21st century rules of the road. Working with local partners with access to appear in Food Security to insure that our success to slow the spread of hiv aids is a stated reaching out to the people of cuba but also working hard with the special envoy to move closer to a solution and to decades of the rebel group in europe we are Standing Firm in support of trade to send a strong message of message of strong message of reassurance to be upheld. We have seen the beginning of what promises to be the most Dramatic Program since the breakup of the soviet union. To destroy the of core of the plutonium reactor to the stockpile of enriched uranium. Finally at the end of this month i will join the president revere determined to negotiate the naturally ambitious to curb the Greenhouse Gas emissions her gore earlier this week to the overseas crisis by food in a water shortages extreme weather events in the movement of people away from various to go lager sustain life. To limit the damage to seize the economic benefits all from those of the transformed energy future. Reply all the stops from the consequences of morsi says san more delays and refusals to acknowledge what is taking place that is unacceptable so it is a lot more a complicated. There are more important subjects we could be discussing into the evening but today at the area of the world in one country that is a concern and that is syria. But humanitarian disaster that is unfolding with over in security and challenges and maturity of young people and their aspirations all of that is the major topic of discussion at the sharia law summit in the meetings that i participate in so i thought this might be a good time to bring you up to speed on the Administration Strategy in syria on decisions made on the actions that we are taking to build on in weeks and months to come. Syria as we know which is not just another country in fact, it is one of the first places that most of us learned about of damascus among the oldest continuously inhabited city is in the face of the earth as part of mesopotamia the cradle of civilization empires have risen and fallen and syria is a commercial crossroads. This is attributed to rich cultural mix the story of modern syria. To usher in the era of limited modernization ended the year 2000 assad was succeeded by his son raising hopes that the new leader chose not to fulfill. From the sparks of the arab spurring begin to ignite not by religious differences by the lack of freedom and jobs that is all they win assad and responded to Peaceful Demonstrations to send in thugs to beat up people when they objected and took to the streets themselves every she replied with bullets having made peaceful change then assad made war inevitable. This gave rise to 86 the gravest extremist rabbi our generation and the embodiment of evil and the results is four and a half years of nonstop or. One in 20 has been wounded or killed when and by as a refugee one at of two has been displaced the average Life Expectancy dropped by 20 years 80 percent of electricity has been knocked out plunging much of the country and the burden of the complex falls most heavily on the smallest shoulders. But the entire Public School system in favor sudden they closed then there are children whose birth in lebanon could not be registered because his parents were separated during the war he is neither syria nor lebanese and there are thousands like him. Those of their growing up in camps many without education in overcrowded apartments without a country to call our own. Make no mistake the longer it lasts the harder it is for the country to recover wounds that could never be true the close. Since i have met by many of those doctors are risking their lives were treating the injured despite constant attacks with threats of abuse soared bitter cold those that emerged with photographic evidence of what was inflected on thousands of victims and a few weeks ago with refugees who had survived the barrel bombs dropped from helicopters making their way to berlin in germany. From the beginning of this crisis that has ben discussed in public but has not been the subject of intense scrutiny. Whenever questions one might have of the content should be no doubt made to be for ending the crisis. That explains what United States supported the United States monitors white un ambassador Samantha Power for the humanitarian relief agencies and though as i became secretary of state and helping them in ways this is why we have worked hard to mitigate the incredible burden of the war displaced of their neighbors are iran, lebanon excuse me iraq. In order to keep the violence from spreading with the macs that massive influx of refugees that has spread beyond their own region into the heart of europe. But to date and as was mentioned we have probably given and attributed more than 4. 5 billion dollars of humanitarian relief and were constantly resorting to other countries to open their watch because as another winter starts the need alloways the supply. And then welcome to our shores of the United States now win assad attacked his own people with these horrific weapons president obama threat of military strikes to back down to enable us to strike a deal of u. N. Security council. But let me tell you something it is plenty good that that happens because you can only imagine the devastation the leaders if they couldnt get their hands on the arsenal of sophisticated chemical arms. Because of the list of crimes it is numbing. Smugglers or kidnappers criminals tablature teachers and burn books to execute journalists to do their jobs and average citizens not pretty debate have said or done before who they are. And what they believe about religion and in iraq dash fighters are off raping women and girls to teach the abuse of under age nine muslim girls is not only acceptable but a form of prayer and expression. En ben to commit homicides and suicides at the same time to pick up sledge hammers to destroy the 1800 your old roman arch ac is the director of antiquities in the Public Square to cut off his head to leave his body tied to a poll. He was 83 years old and was in charge of preserving the Cultural Heritage for more than 50 years. History doesnt matter and Human Dignity doesnt matter in the secret ct is alien to dash their leaders represent everything we fought against everything we have tried to build up that is right and good in all of society we face a fight against medieval and modern fascism at the same time. Let me be clear is that the fight to make on behalf of others. United states does not go and search of enemies. There is times they come in search of us we know that dash means what it says to attack america and attack americans and their interests. So the stakes could not be higher under obama was leadership to take and defeat dash not listed in anything they remain deeply committed to broker a solution and we have said from the beginning is a multiyear effort but as i will describe and we are cleared up the road ahead. This civil war has dragged on more than four years but regrettably but the intractable nature is attributable to a number of factors beginning with the assad government. To be dictatorial rule to choke off the political observation in the sectarian differences that could have worked themselves out bustard beneath the surface and then emerged so suddenly between their rising alarm once side and then might be the case by the involvement of regional actors especially has beloved intervened on the back half of assad and members that cross the International Border to be involved in this by. We face an environment that bears little resemblance of those scenarios that make them easy those that are not accustomed to working with each other but the truth is all those that assad and dash are part of the and then solve problem is directly attributable to the policy of actions that is why we have referred to assad as a magnet for terrorism. There are many that to suppose said enemy is our symbolic that drives thousands of syrians into the arms of dash and fear cause some serious groups to feel they had no other option that is in just symbolic but some biotic each piece designed on the of our that explains the massive refugee crisis today. The relationship between assad and dash that the two extremes have targeted one another. Their enemies far more in theory it neither has shown any interest to bring the killing to an and. Neither the dictator nor the not the answer with an asset an acceptable alternative and to the advent president obama and has set three interrelated goals to begin with dash the president made it clear the fed is states was committed to dismantle the terrorist organization and. To pick up the pace to move forward for a degrading and defeating dash more rapidly were completely and probably to intensify that efforts to bring an end to the civil war in syria. Because of its stability by the serious crisis does not spend further beyond the borders. These measures are mutually reinforce civil. The more progress we make on one the will likely be are to succeed of the others. President obamacare has made his clear view that it cannot be resolved and that remains the case but it is also clear that successful diplomacy depends on part to research leverage who is beating or has the upper hand. With the increasing evidence of iraq and syria that dash can be defeated or routed when faced with a combination of Coalition Airstrikes and effective partners on the ground. This coalition has only been together 14 months last summer it did not even exist. The call the issue has already made a huge difference to save peoples lives that evidence is there for everyone to see. From iraq and syria and the number is rising every day there are more than 40 just last night with another vital facility while preventing a terrorist assault on baghdad. We have driven dash from the critical border town predicting it would fall and how terrible that would be ended and fall because we stepped up and reinforced to provide that capacity and people could fight back. We have seen to creaked liberated to see the population about 100,000 people to rebuild their communities. In today as we sit here allied forces is are the berated to cut off highway 47 that is the main artery from syria into iraq. Including the deployment of thousands of american advisor to trade and assist Iraqi Security forces we have degraded their top leadership including the second in command and we continue to eliminate commanders and other personnel from the battlefield overall is unable to operate and to defy of the territory controlled one year ago and readjust Getting Started me know more about the enemy and what has worked and what has not and what can work for gore the president s direction and those lessons in mind were stepping up the strategy in all aspects and its director supplying partners with armored bulldozers ended put it to break down the defenses around the key city of for body. As they speak they have a calibrated effort to retake the city. Promote a fully sovereign stable and sell for a while i and an inclusive iraq that is securing its border and able to secure its people. They broadly supported diplomatic process and begin to deescalate the process. It would give the Syrian People real choice, not between ashad and the, but true tent transition in which they will have a a voice. That is why another core element of our strategy in syria is diplomatic. The renewed political initiative, broader and more action oriented to isolate the terrace and set syria on the path to peace. This possibility was the focus of meetings in vienna at the end of last month. Meetings, that for the first time, brought together all the Key International interested parties to the very same party. Table. Guess what. It came out with the product. That session produced to communicate by every country attended and those countries that dont tend to agree on much, but they do agree that dash is evil and the war in syria must be brought to an acceptable and as soon as possible. More specifically the countries represented in vienna agreed to support syrias unity and independence and integrity and their pluralistic character. We agreed, all of us that dash and other groups have to be defeated. We agreed, all of us that syrias state institutions should remain intact we dont have the implosion that we saw in iraq. We saw and all agreed, that the rights of all syrians, regardless of ethnicity or religious denomination have to be protected in whatever government comes out. We agreed, all of us that actions for humanitarian relief has to be assured throughout the country and that will be one of the topics we talk about on saturday. We agreed, all of us, to increase support for internally displaced persons and refugees and for the countries that post them. We agreed, all of us, that the un should convene members of the Syrian Government and the Syrian Opposition to develop a plan along the lines of the 2012 geneva communicate leading to a incredible, incredible, nonsectarian governance followed by a new constitution and by free and fair transparent, accountable elections run under the supervision of the United Nations with the highest standards of elections anywhere in the world. We agreed on that. All of those. We agreed to explore the possibility of a nationwide ceasefire. To be initiated in parallel with this renewed political process. Obviously, such a ceasefire does not include dash. It is our effort to defeat dash and the efforts of our partners to defeat dash and we will continue until we prevail. It is precisely through this political process that we can, for the first time, if it works, marshall the support of the entire International Community against a single common enemy. Dash. I want to be clear. The Syrian People will be the validators of this whole affair. The un voice has met with representatives from more than 230 syrian groups. We have also been in constant communication with syrian representatives. I have met with Syrian Opposition leaders myself. This is not about imposing anything on anyone. We are trying to come together as stakeholders to create a framework which can ignite the United Nations negotiating process. The syrians will be the first to tell you that they need help from the International Community to get there. What they especially need is a consensus about how to achieve a political transition that will free them from the stranglehold of extremists on one side and the stranglehold of the dictator on the other. That will allow them to shape their own destiny. I want to underscore that the leaders of the responsible opposition opposition are not focused on revenge for they have no desire to prolong the war. They understand the compromise will be required. At the same time, its simply not possible to go back to the situation that existed before the conflict began. Who in the world truly believes that possible . Not after month upon month of indiscriminate violence and torture and bloodshed. Not after 40 years of dictatorship. Asking the opposition to trust ashad or except his leadership is simply not a reasonable request. It is literally therefore a nonstarter. Even if we wanted to, my friends, even if you made the worst deal with the devil as one says and said well thats what you have to do to try to make this process go forward, i have news for you, it will not stop. There are those invested in what has happened and what has been done to them who see ashad as the critical component of the transition. Thats why we are pushing so hard for a real transition. Without a real transition the fighting will continue in the war will never end. From this point acknowledge we are still working through with russia the question of ashad in his role. It has not been settled and we acknowledge that. We believe through this organic process of syrians defining the future of syria, we believe we can find a road ahead. We can believe that neither peace nor the defeat of dash is possible with ashad in power. The foreign half years of the civil war did has made that very clear. Even while divided on this issue, the United States and russia and other countries involved have decided, wisely i think, not to let that disagreement prevent us from trying to build on the Common Ground that we have established. Build a legitimate legitimate process. Our goal is to develop a timetable for action based on interim steps. The participation of a broad range of syrian parties including men and women and the kind of political transition that will empower against the extremes. I cannot say this afternoon that we are on the threshold of a comprehensive agreement, no. That remains a lot of work to be done. The walls of missed trust in syria within the region are thick and high. Those walls will never be breached unless we make a concerted effort and a creative effort to surmount them. Our meeting at the end of october showed that the agreed basis for action as much wider than many suppose. Looking ahead it should be Crystal Clear that dash should never again be allowed to gain any control of the territory or even control syria and equally clear that ashad lacks the ability to unite and wipe away crimes of war and governor another country or end the war. We must find an alternative. That logic is compelling and provides basic unified principle for our unit Going Forward. Friday i will return and be in vienna. The assembly there will be from china, egypt, egypt, france, germany, iran, iraq, italy, jordan, turkey, the United Kingdom and the United Nations. Its in an strawberry group. With those extraordinary group. With those principles, our hope and prayer is that we will be able to find a sensible way forward. Americas message to each is that we all have a responsibility, not to dig in our heels but to take the next step forward so that the bleeding can stop in the building can begin. So that the habits of civilization can once again take hold in the region where civilization itself was born. There are moments in managing World Affairs as all of you know, when the elements required to progress simply do not exist. A time in turbulence can generate new possibilities. We do not know for sure whether the right possibilities have yet come together in connection with syria. We do not know for certain whether the kind of political transition we seek in that country can be achieved. We do not know for certain how long it would take before we can say that dash has been defeated. But we do know for certain that we have an obligation to ourselves, to friends throughout the region, and above all, to syrias nextgeneration to test those possibilities to the fullest. And even more, not to accept no for an answer. We have in an a responsibility to do everything we can for as long as we must to fulfill the high aspiration in the very name of this institution. We have a duty to peace. Thank you very much. [applause]. Please remain in your seat until the official Party Departs [applause]. Coming up tonight on cspan two, Federalist Society looks at the Supreme Court after ten years under chief justice john roberts. Then the medal of honor ceremony for army captain lauren glover. Thats followed by a look at preventing military suicides. On the next washington journal, formal candidate and harbor professor on lessons he learned from his run for the democratic nomination. His views on Campaign Finance. Then blogger and authors of the book sold out discuss how some u. S. Companies are abusing the guest worker program. We will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Washington journal, live at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. The Lexington Institute host the foreman on improving management at the defense department. Coverage starts at noon eastern on cspan three. Two things are very different today. We have a Justice System that are not held to what we consider to be modern law. There where hearsay is completely acceptable and not guilty until proven is not part of the room. The court room was an unruly place. We dont believe in witchcraft anymore. Sunday on q a, she talks about her book, the witches from salem. An interesting part of the accusations, especially given the way we think of salem, is that wealthy merchants were accused of witches and sea captains were accused of witches. And young little girls were accused to be witches. This is not something were all the victims are female. We have five male victims including a minister. We didnt burn the waitress, we hang them. In addition, there was so much myth and misunderstanding here that i felt was important to dispel. Sunday night at eight eastern and pacific. Thats on cspan q a. Next conservative legal expert and Supreme Court observers discuss the court ten years after chief Justice Roberts took the helm. This is 90 minutes. Good afternoon everyone. We have to get started. The microphone is apparently on. Wow. Okay. Welcome to those of you watching on cspan. My name is rachel brand. For those of you who may not be familiar with the society, we are members of an organization that provide rigorous debate on issues of legal debate and policy. For many of us in the room, room, this is the organization brought to our law schools and continues to provide continuing and provocative topics. I am standing here today because i am chairman of the litigation process group. We plan the panel you are about to hear. There were 15 practice groups divided by subject matter. Theyre responsible for a large part of the programming throughout the year. For those of you who might be interested in getting more involved, i would make a pitch to get involved in the practice group. If youre interested in that you can find me afterward. Ive been asked to remind you that Certain Panel conferences including this one are being live streamed. If you cant be here in person, you dont have to miss out entirely. With that i would like to turn to our partners today. Im very delighted with the panel we have put together. Im really looking forward to this discussion. The panelists that are going to reflect today on the First Executive of Roberts Court come from diverse perspective. We have a journalist, and academic, a practitioner and a former staffer. Think. Thank you all for being here. With that ill turn that over to our moderator. [applause]. Thank you rachel for that introduction. The ten years that chief Justice Roberts led the court have seen decisions that have affected important aspects of our cultural, religious and political lives. Our panel today will discuss not only the chief justice but also the nomination process and what effect he has had on the other justices and whether it should be called Roberts Court or perhaps the Kennedy Court or some people might say be a leader court. In the ninth circuit, we will refer to it as the court of reversal. [laughter] because over those ten years the Supreme Court has reversed the ninth circuit city in 78 78 of the appeals it excepted from our circuit. [applause]. To paraphrase a former solicitor general, it has been suggested that one could open a third petition by saying this is a petition to review a judgment of the court of appeals for the ninth circuit and there are other reasons also to reverse. [laughter] but enough about the ninth circuit. Our panelists will discuss the important decisions which are seen as consistent with the judicial philosophy of the Roberts Court and how those perhaps of brought surprises to the president s who have nominated the justices. We have a distinguished panel today and we will hear from each panelist. They will exchange questions and i will take questions from the audience. First we have Stephen Mcduff field. He is Vice President for policy at cross roads gts and president of the m gate strategy here in washington. He worked for senator john kyle on the Republican Policy Committee during the judge roberts nomination and confirmation. He is going to discuss the expectations regarding his role at the time he was confirmed in 2005. Next we have jen crawford who is a correspondent for cbs news and also a graduate of the university of chicago law school. She covers the Supreme Court regularly and published a book in 2007 entitled supreme conflict, the inside story of the struggle for control of the United States Supreme Court. She is going to speak about how Justice Roberts tenure on the court has coincided with and emerged from public expectation at the time he was confirmed. We are also joined by mike, a partner at jones day. He has argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court. He is going to discuss some of the hot button issues during his tenure including Affordable Care act and affirmative action cases. Last but not least, we have professor malt michael paulson. He is a professor at the school of law in minnesota and has written extensively on constitutional interpretation. He is knowledgeable about the religious freedom jurisprudence and has 2 degrees from yale, one in divinity. He will also offer some thoughts on the direction that the Supreme Court mike taken the next administration. Without lets begin with stephen. [applause]. Thank you judge, i am honored to be part of this panel today. I was a lawyer in the senate for senator john kyle in his Leadership Office during a crazy time in nominations, 2003 2006. For those who those who werent in that particular vortex, that included democrats filibuster of nominees, republican threats to eliminate the filibuster of lower Court Nominees in what is now called the nuclear option. The infamous gang of 14 settlement dispute and the sobering experience with another nomination. I have been invited to set the stage for how it was that john roberts was viewed in the senate and what the expectations were for him from the perspective of the senators who confirmed him. Abbys lead on speed for any senator but these are my goodfaith impressions of that expense. Prevents go back to the summer of 2005. The most important thing to understand is that there was a great deal of concern for any Supreme Court nominee would be blocked by filibuster. Republicans had just 55 votes. Many of us believed that democrats would hold together to block all of the most moderate nominees. Nominees who conservative senators themselves could not support. In other words we fear disaster. As a consequence of this fear, the staff spent many months working on how to frame a Supreme Court nomination. Any nomination. The arguments would be the same regardless of who it was. In fact, i am sure everyone recalls then judge roberts analogy of judging an empire and calling balls and strikes. The first time i heard that analogy was not from judge roberts but a few months before in bill fritz conference room. The Republican Council shared the analogy in almost the same language judge roberts would later use. I suppose its possible that as they took notes and never shared this idea with judge roberts, but call me a little bit skeptical. If you dont believe me as many of you dont like to do just blame congress. Keep in mind there are serious consequences of messaging and framing in filibuster. There was far much attention given on the republican side to understanding the nuances of john roberts judicial philosophy. We were working on how to shape the debate to prevent filibuster. Lets go back to the time buster. Timeline. The president nominates john roberts soon after. Senators really like john roberts. They thought he was brilliant and they also just liked his style. My personal view is that he excited many senators because they reminded them so much of what they wish they could be themselves. Somebody who was smooth, cool under pressure and a phenomenal communicator. They wished they could be more like him but at the same time few at the time, at least in the senate felt judge roberts was an improvement over Justice Oconnor. Enthusiasm grew as betting continued and they became less vocal in opposition. I think we all agree he was a substantial improvement. The hearing occurred in the kennedy caucus room. John roberts sat patiently while they made Opening Statements the camera and forwarding gave a brief statement of his own that stunned everyone. He discussed beautiful language of his childhood and the promise of endless possibility. He was fermentable. The fight if there ever was to be one was over that day. The next two days of q a were just defense. The nominees, and senators. He gave proof that he mastered the law. It was also rather dry. He spoke 26 and a half minutes of his 30 minutes before he asked a question. We kept track. I must say we learned that his favorite movies were doctor zhivago and north by northwest. Nothing illustrates the hearing better than judge roberts answer to a simple question. He asked what would you like history to say about you . Characteristically his First Response was a bit cheeky. He said i have my transcript, id like to say he was confirmed. Perfect, right. The audience laughed. Then he said actually, the answer is the same. I would like them to say i was a good judge. What does that mean . We didnt really know except there was a firm sense that they shouldnt bring their policy into judgments. Senators saw they were getting a very smart man who contrary to his Opening Statement was an excellent politician. Oh, zero, that guy is good. People were impressed. There was a sense he could be an institutionalist that he truly loved the court but im not sure any senator had any idea what that would mean in practice. Its interesting then, about something he said in his Opening Statement. He said, if im confirmed, i will be vigilant to protect the independence and integrity of the Supreme Court. I will work to ensure it in upholds the rule of law and safeguards those liberties for all americans. So concern for the court and coupled with the rule of law and liberty. At least in the sentence, they placed them in parallel. Let me also read what he had to say about results oriented judging. During questioning, judge robert said if a judge is results resultsoriented, its about the worst thing you could say. What youre saying is you dont apply the law to tell you what the results should be. You dont go through the judicial decisional process. You dont look to the principles that are establish in the constitution or the law. You look to what you think the results should be and then you go back and try to rationalize it. Thats not the way the system is supposed to work. Its been great to see the elephant in the room. These words are interesting giving popular opinion. Im going to let others sort out the samesex marriage case. The transcript provides other clues. A judge should start with the text. In response again, he said i think you folks, i think when you legislate, you do have something in mind in particular. When you put it into words and you expect judges not to put it into their own preference. But to implement your view of what you are accomplishing in the president bush had been given a historic opportunity to change the Supreme Court in a way his father had failed to do so even president reagan. If you know, the story of the Supreme Court or the Rehnquist Court is one of disappointment seven of nine justices by republican president s as they failed to wittier of their judicial principles. Many victories of liberals that be dont need to getting a chair after lunch but obviously some of the justices worked as conservative as people have hoped and that is a frustrating term of the judicial conservatism principles there were never that conservative to begin with and he wore a three piece suits and earned were polite. [laughter] but novio philosophy. And perhaps that would be the story of Justice Oconnor and Justice Kennedy and failed to provide the key vote that would have started to turn back to a more conservative direction from the excesses of the warren court and the justices you did have strong philosophical views in unexpected ways who i believe is the most egregiously mischaracterized figure probably in our generation. [applause] and i have written about about this a law in the book and it is interesting because it is where the narrative and is he is the intellectual under study inferior in that narrative is false and obvious not only by reading his opinion but in the papers of the library of congress you can see thomas taking key positions as he changes his vote to join Justice Thomas. When i talk about this in speeches especially on the west coast, to talk about Justice Thomas because it is an outrage the way it continues to be perceived in the press that when i start to tell the story nobody wants to hear it. That is the tremendous disservice to a man but also to my profession that is something that is outrageous but it has affected the court in unexpected ways with his strong conservative views is certainly she was going that way so the Rehnquist Court was a disappointment for conservatives in years george bush with a historic opportunity to representative previous president s have failed to do with Justice Oconnor shocked everyone to say she was opinion before the chief justice. He had to get a right to rely on some very smart people and john roberts took us back. It is funny almost like we came full circle. Who is john roberts . Ten years ago i was one including on the panel wondering if he would be a judicial conservative than i was convinced that he was. I know this guy if he will be solid. And then the memo came out and they were smirky with his comments in the margin to suggest to call a member tuesdays see i told you so. [laughter] and he walked through his confirmation hearing. Then here we are in these decisions it is fascinating is to get through the details as this unfolds but how does obamacare and samesex marriage it would be complete the complementary and not at all inconsistent or should not reach out to take a back seat to the legislature he would say it is perfectly consistent with his testimony. He had an Interesting Exchange with a strict constructionist. But what was he sent with those principles and not engage in all so at the time to think that is a very savvy answer. As this panel will show and we will just talk about john roberts but the Roberts Court more broadly with Justice Alito his opinions are beautifully written his time on the bench has been an enormous asset with the oral argument is penetrating and uniquely different than some of the heather justices and how often Justice Kennedy will jump in to ask an attorney what is your answer to Justice Alito question . [laughter] so he has been from president bushs perspective of replacing Justice Oconnor but white is the Roberts Court after 10 years . It is almost too soon to say but how they will affect us dynamics on the court will resolve Justice Thomas, the court that change the dynamic so in many ways it is too soon to tell so i thought about the weather was the tours dubai publisher and i decided not to because i think it is too soon. There is a snapshot and thats snapshot is being developed but as this court establishes itself whether or not it has any consistent themes this score will change if you talk about a president ial election to get those possible appointments for those justices the president s will be in their 80s and these are conservative justices who very well may be stepping down. While john roberts has ben frustrating for many conservatives, if a democrat wins the white house he may be writing a law more distant dissent. On that happy note. [applause] i will pick up on that happy new. Really a the chief justice had nine if he had eight liberal he would have an entirely different legacy than conservative if prior to ruth 2005 that was the Kennedy Oconnor court it largely has been the Kennedy Court to take the direction of the law and i am worried it could become kennedys late robert scorched with the jurisprudence the brings to be Affordable Care act it is too early to tell of that but it wasnt john roberts replacing chief Justice Rehnquist with their principal conservative replacing the state legislature with continuity and principles of the law that has affected the various areas of light due to chat about briefly. First is the substance over the last 10 years isnt an approach to judging how chief Justice Roberts like people all of scalia and thomas and i was a star with the good stuff because i in the and she turned optimist taking baby steps to the rule of law and obviously if the election goes wrong next year in and of that will matter. [laughter] you can make an argument with some relationship that people actually listen to and that is nice the areas they think we made some decent progress in parts of the Roberts Court for cry will start with freespeech i will touch upon each of these very light the Citizens United rosa brilliant landmark twin hands of marketplace to join a libertarian approach with us decision that they certainly have reenforce some basic principles of free speech. Somewhat controversial but the point at least with respect to political and ideological and scientific debate another reason is because we allowed the Orwellian Truth ministry to end to go into the marketplace of ideas. So these reflect the inclination and the court to gore as far as it wants to go except the Affordable Care act with has a libertarian approach that is where the corps will go. We had a step backwards that was the worst since the 70s where chief Justice Roberts wrote a restrictive opinion of the rights of judges to solicit Campaign Contributions we will modify that First Amendment but that mode of analysis is a dramatic departure and if anybody takes it seriously could dramatically undercut First Amendment protection. And with very good marks where the court has gone but to enhance this relative to the state Justice Scalia wrote in his opinion unless they single out for differential treatment with religious practice so with a statute that restores the protections and there we saw with the hobby lobby case where theyve indicated the rights of employers of the other mandates from the Affordable Care act. We saw a Similar Development that is the departure will said neutral regulations you cannot infringe of religious institutions that the establishment clause area but to have a strong history of doing so that it is the litmus test that there is day approach and that should be but it does not violate the establishment clause if you give religious organizations funding you dont have to discriminate to rolling out social welfare money. With a strong degree of confidence there will be five votes for that if it comes up. It is a mixed bag of racial equality. Indeed area of racial preference as the cases have said to take a 25 your vacation from the 14th amendment. [laughter] you can discriminate only one to from a protected Minority Group that does not share the view so well find out the fisher case of provinces and Higher Education in there is a number of ways from the state based Racial Discrimination without overturning the michigan cases. With the critical months to apply some evidence that the chief 14 percent minority representation or 10 initially has some Educational Value and as the counter intuitive notion as long as they have some proof that i think they to go long way towards restoring command of the constitution. Because said bubbled up a couple of years ago the Supreme Court waited to issue an opinion and literally said nothing but why dont you take another look at this . And i think itll be interesting to uc to put to the equal protection analysis. Them the big surprise that is the charitable to Justice Kennedy with the Fair Housing Act that was a real surprise to me because of the voting area Justice Kennedy seemed to firmly understand the position in a region not turn statutes to say you must take account of race to sort out government benefits of a racially proportionate basis but the last year in texas he took a big step backwards you laced the opinion to say dont turn this into a quota but one week later issued a bunch of regulations that turned into a quota. For the reasons we articulated it will tell you how they will handle racial issues Going Forward of the statutory context. Learning that the Second Amendment to deny the rights of fire firearms but to never take a followon case to the scrutiny and a closely divided court that was probably the best thing this court has done the decision a samesex marriage was about as flawless as you to be the provision Justice Kennedy provoked you cannot deny life liberty or property without due process with the contextual analysis coming from hallmark greeting card. [laughter] not what we were accustomed to override the tradition and i have a distinct prejudice but the other hallmarks of lawlessness was king vs. Burrow. To hold the Affordable Care act to a jury that to a normal conservative to argue plausibly was referring to congress with a president ial Election Year there is no such excuse of integrity to have six members of the porch to be very reminiscent with respect of the Civil Rights Act where northman south and east and west and i thought one thing we would accomplish is to interpret statutes and the arguments you should not too deferred to policy choices that these are the policy choices of the legislature for four years ago along with the naked policy preference to change what though law meant to the opposite. This is where a chief Justice Roberts was from the case that upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care act purports try not to take either position personally but the fascist conspiracy theories is dizzily from when i am available all. [laughter] and the other areas in terms of their departure from the text with the arguments for the court is establishing a code or state with the Death Penalty life without parole context dictating to elected representatives and how they were mentally challenged as murderers to establish a code and eddies serious argument mustve been inflicted as cruel and unusual in another opinion that is not terribly unpredictable with its consequences but an assault on the constitution of the redistricting case will sell legislature now popular in did not the legislature so literally two days after the decision came down and met with Justice Roberts during descent how dare they distort the word to achieve broader purposes of the constitutional. [laughter] proving yet again the Supreme Court is the irony free zone. [laughter] confirming the personal animus maybe. [laughter] so that is the big picture and think the biggest difference between chief Justice Roberts and conservative members of the court is an emphasis on incrementalism and i can walk you through how he has done that were they taken a small step in and come back to rent and profits prefaced this time to decide a case that ive actually arguing to cast doubt on the tested constitutionality of the public unions from those who dont belong on the First Amendment grounds not have that case represents a few should overturn the precedent that was previously upheld. I am not entirely sure if there should be a conservative principle that says income angeles and is preferable to the scalia approach. But you could have written brown v. Board of education in 54 black schools were clearly on an equal with the plessey the ferguson the way they did not satisfy the standard but the problem is that you keep in place the foundational province contrary to that text structure in the long run cannot be good for the development of the law of the institutional integrity of the court. This last point i will make all the resume ambiguity whether of the institutional integrity of the court in my mind any time you hear a judge talk about the court as opposed to the law should send a warning signal because if you are worried about the integrity of the porch then just do what in a neutral way in a neutral manner if you start changing your view of the law or to modify your view because youre worried about Public Perception of a court bacchanal the invite the notion youre not interpreting the text of legal materials in the interview but a scale that favors one party or policy view over another. The by definition and decreases the integrity because it just reduces to another legislative body where decisions are made rather than neutral principles but is always a worrisome sign this is too early to you to know which way chief Justice Roberts jurisprudence would develop generally it is favorable there are a couple of exceptions and if we lose the next election or not matter at all. Thank you. [applause] i am honored to be here this has been an existence since 1982 that i discovered they were creating this is you should not exactly a founding father but maybe if founding nephew Second Generation of. [laughter] i will build on a law of what has been said but i will move beyond that to think of the future of the Roberts Court. The title i have been given my remarks is a question though worry there is not a test. Whats conservative about the Roberts Court . I agreed the idea marking the beginning of periods or epics is distorting in some ways but it is a convenient marker to look at the personnel changes and ask a question has the court really become ideologically more conservative . My answer is no. Not very much not much of the ideological change since 2005 when john roberts was first sworn in. But three solid conservatives of rehnquist and scalia a solid block of four liberals and by the time of the 2005 then you had to swing justices oconnor and kennedy i call them a weathervane because they swing with the cultural wind with conservative instincts but not a principled coherent portrait a loss of these then you have the substitutions and a layout maya nine upcard then you have generally mainstream consistently conservative replacing and other mainstream consistently conservative that switches from roberts to request rehnquist and the material may change in some sense that is though little unfair it is like a double switch they came in at the same time he was supposed to command for oconnor that we have an episode from october 2005 where bush was flirting with the different nominee the then Justice Alito was put forward that this material because it does substitute a solid judicial conservative for a liquid or gaseous because oconnor was of a principled solid conservative. So that would change as you move from the swing justice and that makes a difference where kennedy would have voted with conservatives there are some issues you means conservative some with oconnor said you substitute one vote for either kennedy would be with the conservative anyway. That is basically the list michael did so could i will ballpoint but the changes have been few and far between and interspersed between a law of importance defeats for the constitution so these are mostly cases where kennedy with the light lean right to one in chins Campaign Finance which was a First Amendment disaster to ruth Citizens United which is a triumph that is the single most notable change that is attributable to Justice Alito the boat abortion the partial birth abortion ban and upheld into those seven a federal ban on partial birth abortion it is baby steps. The court is moving in the right direction but it is hard to see. Religious freedom there has been an important change the unanimous Supreme Court decision which right think undermines the premises of the Employment Division of the smith case will become important in the future and sam alito o opinion in the hobby lobby case five four was extremely important in the interpretation with religious freedom against government regulation. And mixed results on the enumerated powers i am one of the heretics that think it was rightly decided decided s not my policy preferences but it is my interpretation. [laughter] we will talk about that but even in defeat there is a conservative victory that the court did adopt to put meaningful limits with the dramatic new restriction of the scope of Government Spending power to coerce states with executive power the Regulatory Group that i think is huge for separation of powers it says the president cannot rewrite was the congress to effectuate desired policies outcome is the scalia opinion it is brilliant and important it is a sleeper victory. This is the Litigation Group but there have been meaningful changes of territorial jurisdiction to have a Practical Impact in the federal courts is victories are few and far between dramatic liberal results some of the most awful cases the war prisoner case from the Bush Administration absolutely indefensible and precursors to the samesex marriage case of windsor in 2013. The four democratic appointees of the Supreme Court when kennedy joins him it is not the Roberts Corporation the Kennedy Court so i will conclude with lessons from the next conservative president flew cares about the constitution to look for word to the next 10 years of the Roberts Court and on Inauguration Day there will be three justices in their eighties and one in their late seventies and the opportunity for some meaningful changes in all likelihood. Ideology matters judicial philosophy matters to have substantial power what the philosophy is to that property makes a huge difference to the country in the future of the nation and the constitution sometimes literally a matter of life and death do you support point to the Supreme Court we ended up with david souter in 1980 if you had edith jones then roe v. Wade is overruled by a vote of six three because the weather vane will swing the other way. Did you have a conception to save millions of lives it does make a huge difference if you succeed to confirm and it makes a huge difference whether you have Justice Sotomayor or recessions or Justice Kagan or cavanaugh. Ideology matters in the objection will come this sometimes you cannot know in the vance sometimes it is considered not proper to ask were not politics but my answers are yes you can know that in advance fairly reliable it is necessary and proper to ask for course you can know how they will be as justices on the Supreme Court i dont think it is bragging or a special skill but give me 10 minutes i will tell you how they are likely to be on the Supreme Court i will not have everything right but they will not disappoint well settled expectations to put its foreign debt questions to a then you can tell in advance the difference between scalia and Justice Souter. It is proper to ask these questions sometimes to look at Judicial Independence with the constitution is of function of salary guarantee of life tenure that should be the assurance of this additional autonomy. Beside the gives the explicit political confirmation m process as part of the separation of powers and checks and balances to become the obligation of the senate to be the proper view of constitutional interpretation with all the powers at their disposal. Into favor the most extreme version of the litmus test just give me one question to ask in individual justice with the maximum amount of information i talk about roe v wade if they can make president and star a decisive is where the debris of relationship of judicial power and it is entirely appropriate to push these questions for word and should be obligatory. I will leave it there so we have some time but they give for your attention. [inaudible conversations] mcdevitt. [applause] [applause] with a period of questions and answers i appointed myself to start. We have the two cases and the interpretation what is not attacks on monday is a tax on tuesday when you include the word federal in the second case there is another case where the legislature includes the enactment now is contextualism dead and the Justice Roberts give any indication . I dont think he did i have the transcript you get some hint it decide to go backwards to look big issue find yourself looking backwards but has a went through it thinking back and remember that being teed up with no discussion what that would look like but then you have a the conversation of history but extended to which you would focus it would mean something different, no. We have no discussion that i could find like the first a see a case. They are not teed up because i think the hearings are taking place in a certain moment of time so now theres a law of discussion of key though. Or the more recent cases to be discussed at the same time people think of that in a narrow sort of way in terms of those. I noted is dead but they dont seem inclined to be with those doctrines of the interpretation with that format so that consequence is that theyre not elaborated upon very much to sit there to have a simple view that is simple and straightforward about policy preferences to explain the contours of how you get there. With the Senate Judiciary committee they have touched a job than there is the normal institutional part of the nominee people are interested to know they are conservative but they will not engage in a hostile crossexamination and john roberts and alito would run circles around anyone after a superb performance budget Justice Alito enveloped the committee in the warmest bath of boredom. [laughter] that was everyone. [laughter] so the notion that the democratic senator like joe biden. [laughter] would figure his jurisprudence is unrealistic. Because think about how john roberts answer the question. That it is subject to the principles of star a decisiveness that they heard different Different Things but what they heard is Different Things. And to go by north by northwest this is a funny moment that senator schumer was completely frustrated with the current u. S. Attorneys from new york to plan now a careful crossexamination and there was some backandforth of the caribbean to the question he said i am happy to answer the question then said north by northwest. He was angry as was his counsel. Because they really tried really hard to figure out how to pin him down and get enough information about his judicial philosophy to how to rule on the case. They thought they had him. And he slipped right by then he made a joke out of it. But it was not a joke for senator schumer or the other side there were very frustrated. I am not sure the Senate Confirmation hearings are the best evidence to throw out traditional ideology you do that in oneonone conversations with people who understand these issues in the right questions to be asking and looking for. My critique is the way the republicans administration tests seemingly failed to put a direct simple straightforward questions. They figure that out in the interviews they live. [laughter] the Reagan Administration judicial screening. Yes it begins to be overturned. Good. Have some coffee. [laughter] nobody would say it is correct you get there different ways but i thank you need a track record with the Justice Department or the state attorney general or on the bench Justice Souter was a completely selfinflicted wound. Ill think it is the hard to teach them how to but the crucible of the white house interview process. Think of Justice Alito he has never written a wrong opinion and his confirmation hearing he was the big fight nominated on halloween anybody said it is scary and an american track there is the track record and opinions and on and on and his performance was so masterful. And you cannot have scripted it any better when his wife started to cry it was like they were ready undergoing to beat him and they could never strike never. By the way he did not read one word of their briefing books they prepared so the lesson that i think if you get that nominee confirmed his track record picasso thinking of the nominee robert bork was there with nectar red gum at the time. [laughter] we still have the senate in 86 to have gotten through so little quirks like that. We have to close at 145 punctually so if you have questions please stand up and go to the microphone please identify yourself and the person to answer the question. Every Real Property attorney from idaho. Generally is the specific you think the decision of possibility drives the results but the larger question does the Roberts Court move into a position it uses the bill of rights as a shield to give a carve out to say no. You can do that there is no power like the Affordable Care act in particular. Great question if saudia lobby affects the outcome with the mandate cases. I hope so to keep the government for doing otherwise would it needs to do. Justice alito recently spoke to a gathering in he mentioned his distress in the free speech cases of course, he was the one dissent and he mentioned the video case. Would you like to see a distinction between Self Expression and free speech . Do you think he will be influential with the other members of the court and what controversy might be decided differently . I think that Justice Alito narrow interpretation of freedom of speech does raychem the allied air with the court it is its something he does often but in that aspect a pro freedom of speech position more than anyone on the court and is in a reliable place for freedom of expression is to send in the crashes and Legal Society was a powerful defense of freedom of expression and Expressive Association that is one of the important losses during the Roberts Court era that will be overturned in the future. I think he is less libertarian where the streak the speech does not strike as speech with Justice Alito like to step on puppies heads. Ill say this, the senate has very Little Information on specifics. There are a handle a members that may have information. My short answer is i have no idea. Scalia did not appreciate it. I dont know he wouldve taken it. In his defense, but no. Whats interesting i think, another interesting question is everything has to line up. Getting struck by lightning, getting nominated to the court. It depends on whether the democrats or republicans control the senate. To me, if he had stepped down, when we all thought he was going to, and really he should have, would john roberts have been the menominee . If rehnquist had gone first question . , my guest wouldve been no. When the president saw him performing as he did and it was rehnquist on the eve of his hearing passing away, it had been contested. It was easy easy for the president to move roberts into that spot paving the way for that legal powerhouse harriet miers, which no one is mentoring her name so i have to throw it out there. I think the court would look quite different had rehnquist step down. You gotta do it woman, lets throw harriet out there for a couple weeks. Highstakes poker but i have to give you credit. So in his dissent and over felt, they criticize the new york case more than ten times. Thats a case that more and more conservative legal scholars seem willing to embrace. My question for the panel is what world you think that case will play the next appointee should a republican win the election. You said lochner quest mark. Id say zero. I just dont see anybody on the court, including Justice Thomas going toward a notion of substantive due process that gives it the same kind of protection to economic rights as been given to abortion and that sort of thing because they think in my view that lockley was wrongly decided and economic regulationsni, in todays sociey is really, really stupid that the constitution doesnt deprive states of federal governance of the ability to enact really stupid economic regulation. Okay last question and to the rear of the microphone. Some of you talked about Citizens United. What is your sense of this in cases like mccutchen, Free Enterprise club, Citizens United, who, who is the swing vote . Whos the last one to come on board . I think you need to take those individually. We all know there was a famous dispute between Justice Scalia and Justice Roberts about the wisconsin right to life. Again scalia takes the approach that you need to destroy the village to save it. Chief justice takes the approach to keep the structure there that but make sure it doesnt mean anything. Im sort of on the scalia side of that debate. If theres a fundamentally incompatible with First Amendment rights than it should be cleaned up not through this incremental stuff your question, chief Justice Roberts was reluctant to take the steps that they ultimately took as quickly as justice coolio wanted him to but eventually he came around to it. Its really interesting, if the solicitor general had not given the completely truthful answer that yes this means you couldnt publish a book criticizing hillary clinton, the corporation couldnt do it, we may have had a different result. Thats what led to rethinking that argument. I strongly suspect Justice Roberts is the one putting the brakes on that. He probably wanted to write a more narrow scope in Citizens United. To restore the First Amendment to what a naturally meant, i think he went along with it. I want to thank this wonderful panel. Ive got my marching orders. Thank you very much. Friday the Federalist Society on civil rights, criminal justice and Police Relations with the community. Its live on cspan2. Coming up on cspan2, a look at efforts to prevent military suicide and later secretary of state john kerry on u. S. Policy in syria. On the next washington journal, president ial candidate on the lessons he learn from the run from the democratic. Then authors of the book sold out discuss how some u. S. Companies are abusing the guest worker program. And well take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Washington journal live on cspan. Cspan has your coverage for the road to the white house 2016 where youll find the candidates, speeches, debates and most importantly your questions. This year we are taking our road to the white house in classrooms across the country. We give students the opportunity to discuss the important issues they want to hear the most from their candidates. Follow the contest and rode to the white house coverage 2016 on tv, the radio and online at cspan. Org. Next medal of honor ceremony for laurent glover. He presented the award to to him. This is 20 minutes lady and gentlemen the president of the United States along with Florent Groberg, medal of honor recipient. Almighty god we hear your words, how can we repay the lord for his goodness to me. Today we remember your goodness and the sacrifice of all our soldiers. Heal our hearts and the tears of their grieving families. He with us as we honor the actions of our heroes. We give thanks with your sacred calling to serve and protect and defend our nation and our way of life. Without counting the cost. May this heroic and virtuous soldier be an example for future generations and his life to serve as a beacon for young men and women who run to the sound of the guns for the sake of humanity, for the sake of the nation they have come to love. In your holy name, we pray, amen. Amen. Please be seated. Good morning and welcome to the white house. A little more than three years ago, as captain Florent Groberg was recovering from his wounds as a consequence of the actions we honor today. He woke up on a hospital bed in a little bit of a haze. He wasnt sure, but he thought he was in germany. Someone it was at not hallucinating. You are actually in the white house. Those cameras are on. I am not the lead singer from corn. [laughter] i am here to award you the highest military honor distinction, the metal of honor. Now we have actually met before, three years ago i was in one of my regular visits to spend some time with our Wounded Warriors and he was one of them. We talked and it turns out he liked the Chicago Bears so i liked him right away. [laughter] then i i had a chance to meet his parents who could not be more gracious and charming and you get a sense of where he gets his character from. It is wondered both received both of you again. I also want to welcome his girlfriend carson who apparently, flo tells me he had to help paint an apartment so there is a honey do list going on there. To the soldiers, family and all of our english gas. One day after veterans day we honor this American Veteran whose story, like so many of our vets and Wounded Warriors speaks not only of gallantry on the battlefield but resilience at home. As a teenager, just up the road in bethesda, flo discovered he had an incredible gift. He could run fast. Very fast. Half mile, a a mile, 2 miles he would leave his competition in the dust. He went on to run tracking country at the university of maryland. In college, he was called the confident teammate. As good as he was, in individual events, he always found a little extra something when he was running on a relay with the team. The difference in running is all about got. As one teammate said flo could suffer a little more than everyone else could. So day after day, month after month, he pushed himself to his limit. He knew that every long run, every sprint, every interval could help shape a second or two off his time. As he would find out later, later, a few seconds can make all the difference. Training, guts, teamwork, what made flo a good runner also made him a good soldier. In the army, he took his training seriously hitting the book from the classroom and paying attention to every detail and field exercises because he knew that he had to be prepared for any scenario. He deployed to afghanistan twice. First as a platoon leader and then a couple years later when he was handpicked to head up a security detail. So on an august date three years ago flo found himself reading a Group Leading a group in afghanistan. It was a journey they had done many times before. A short walk on foot including a passage over a narrow bridge. At first they passed pedestrians, a few cars and bicycles and even some children. Then they began to approach the bridge and a pair of motorcycles sped toward them from the other side. The afghan troops shouted at the bikers to stop and theyd did, ditching their bikes in the middle of the bridge and running way. Thats when flo noticed something to his left. A man dressed in dark clothing clothing walking backwards 10 feet away. The man spun around and turned toward them. Thats when flo sprinted toward him. He pushed him away from the formation and as he did he noticed an object under the mans clothing, a bomb. The motorcyclist had been a diversion. At that moment, flo did something extraordinary. He grabbed the bomber by his vest and kept pushing him away. In all those years of training in the track and in the classroom, on the field, all of it came together in those few seconds and he had the instincts and courage to do what was needed. One of flos comrades, Andrew Mahoney had joined him too and they shoved the bomber again and again. They pushed him so hard he fell to the ground and on his chest and the bomb detonated. Ball bearings, dust, debris exploded everywhere. Flo was blown 15 to 20 feet and knocked unconscious. Moments later he woke up in the middle of the road in shock. His eardrum was blown out and is leg was broken and bleeding. Still he knew that if he lost a secondary attack he would be a sitting duck. He had his pistol out and was dragging his wounded body from the road. That blast by the bridge claimed for american heroes. For heroes flo wants us to remember today. One of his mentors, 24yearold army that who always found time for flo and any other soldier who wanted to talk. Command Sergeant Major kevin griffin. A west pointer who loved hockey and was a role model to cadet and troops because he always cared more about other people than himself. Maj. Tom kennedy. A popular air force leader known for smiling with his whole face, someone who always seem to run into a friend wherever he went, major david greg. Finally the u. S. Service officer who had just volunteered for a second tour in afghanistan, a man who moved to the United States from egypt and reveled in everything american, weather was disneyland or chain restaurants are roadside pie. These four men dedicated their lives to our country. They died serving it. Their families, loving wives and children, parents and siblings bear that sacrifice most of all. So although his family could not be here with us today, i would ask the other three families to stand and accept our deepest thanks. [applause]. Today we honor flo because his actions prevented an even greater catastrophe. By pushing the bomber away from the formation, the occurred further from our forces and on the ground instead of in the air. He didnt know it at the time, but that explosion also caused a second unseen bomb to detonate before was in place. Had both bombs gone off as planned, who knows how many could have been killed. Those are the lives he helped to save and we are honored that many of them are here today. General james mingus, Andrew Mahoney who was awarded a silver star for joining flo in confronting the attacker, david brink who was awarded a bronze star, specialist daniel ball drama, the medic who helped to save flos leg and private first class benjamin and eric who served with distinction on that day. Gentlemen, id ask you to a stand and accept thinks of a great nation as well. [applause]. [applause]. Walter reed began his next mission on the mission to recover. He suffers significant nerve damage and almost half of the calf muscle in his right leg had been blown off. The leg that powered him around there and a leg that move so swiftly to counter the bomber, that leg had been through hell and back. Thanks to 33 surgeries and some of the finest medical treatment a person can ask for, flo kept that leg. Hes not running but hes doing a lot of crossfit. I would not challenge him to crossfit. He is putting some hurt on some rowing machines and some stair climbers. I think it is fair to say he is fit. Today he is medically retired, but like so many of his other veterans, he continues to serve. As i continued to say yesterday, thats what our veterans do. They are incredibly highly skilled and dynamic leaders always looking to write that next chapter. For flo that means a civilian job at the department of defense to take care of our troops and keep the military strong every day that he is serving he will be wearing a brace a bracelet that bears the names of his brothers in arms that gave their life that day. The truth is, that day was the worst day of his life and that is the stark reality behind the metal of honor ceremonies. With all the valor we celebrate, all the courage that inspires us, these actions were demanded amid some of the most regretful moments of war. That is precisely why we honor heroes like flo. Because on his very worst day, he managed to summon his very best. Thats the nature of courage, not being unafraid, but confronting fear and danger and performing in a selfless fashion. He showed his guts, he showed his training, how to put it all on the line for his teammates and thats an american we can all be grateful for. Thats why we honor captain Florent Groberg today. May god bless all who serve and all who have given their lives to our country. We are free because of them. May god bless their families and may god continue to bless the United States of america with heroes such as these. The president of the United States of america authorized by active Congress March march 3, 1863 is awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor. Captain Florent Groberg went above and beyond the call of duty Fourth Infantry Division during combat operation against an armed enemy in afghanistan on august 8, 2012. On that day, he was leading a dismounted movement consisted of several key leaders, commanders and and afghanistan reader. As they approached, he observed an individual watching walking close to the formation. He made an abrupt turn to the formation. He noticed an abnormal bulge under his clothing. He placed himself between him and pushed him away from the formation. Simultaneously he ordered another member to assist with removing the suspect. At this time he confirmed it was a suicide vest and with disregard for his life, he began, with assistance to with the other member to push the bomber away from the formation. Upon following, the vest was detonated outside of the formation killing for members of the formation and injuring numerous others. A second suicide bomber was detonated prematurely and minimize the effect of that attack on the formation saving the lives of the formation and several leaders. His heroism, selfless selflessness and keeping with the highest military service reflects great credit upon himself. [applause]. [applause]. To spray. Maybe example of of all the soldiers we remember today serve to inspire us to defeat all the enemies we face. Maybe ask a virtue remember give us the courage to hold on to what is good, strengthen the faint of heart it, it, support the week and help those who suffer. May we the living bring honor to those who have perished so that others may live in peace. Grant us your lesson, remain upon us and be with us always, amen. Amen. That concludes the formal portion of the ceremony. I need to take some pictures with the Outstanding Team members as well as the goldstar families who are here today. As flo remind us, this metal, in his words, words, honors them as much as any honors that are bestowed upon him. On veterans day, week, thats particularly appropriate. I want to thank all of our Service Members who are here today. All who could not attend, and i hope you enjoy an outstanding reception. I hear the food is pretty good here. [laughter] thank you very much everybody. Give captain Florent Groberg a big round of applause. [applause]. On the next washington journal, former president ial candidate on the lessons he learned in his run for the democratic nomination and his views on Campaign Finance. Then the authors of the book sold out discuss how some u. S. Companies are abusing the current guest worker program. And we will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Washington journal, live at 7 0. Motivating Youth Civic Engagement and Political Action is the subject of a discussion friday at the center for american progress. You can see it live starting at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan2. Cspans road to the white house coverage continues friday, live from orlando at the Republican Party of florida Sunshine Summit. The twoday event brings together president ial candidates, along with floridas state and federal elected officials. Friday morning, at 1030 eastern, the lineup includes florida senator marco rubio, texas senator ted cruz, South Carolina senator lindsey graham, mike huckabee, jeb bush, donald trump and ben carson. Live on saturday morning, starting at ten eastern, more from more from the republican Sunshine Summit with former pennsylvania senator rick santorum, bobby jindal, iran paul, chris christie, john kasich and carly fiorina. Stay with cspan for campaign 2016, taking you to the road to the white house on tv, the radio and cspan. Org. Next, look at efforts to prevent suicide among Service Members. Joe donnelly of indiana joined veterans advocates and the foundation for Suicide Prevention. Its about one hour. Good morning everybody. Thank you all for attending this briefing sponsored by senator joe donnelly this morning. Along with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the nations nations leading nonprofit dedicated to preventing suicide through education, advocacy, and research. It is my my pleasure today to introduce three distinguished panelists that are going to talk about the military Suicide Prevention prevention in our country it is the goal to reduce suicide 20 set 25 by 2025. In order to. In order to do this we have to address issues around Suicide Prevention that flag our communities. Currently 22 22 veterans died by suicide every day. Veterans comprise an estimated 20 of suicides in this country every year. On the panel today we have yochi dreazen, the author of the invisible front, love and loss and in this era of war. He is the editor for news and form policy where he runs and oversees a team of reporter. His book was picked as one of the most notable books of 2014 and one of amazons best books of 2014. Yochi dreazen has made several trips to afghanistan and has been an total of four years on the ground in the two countries. He mostly did frontline combat. He has reported for more than 20 countries including pakistan, russia, china, israel, japan, turkey, morocco and saudi arabia. Bill rauch is the political director and supports the development of the annual policy agenda. These and Advocacy Campaign through trusted relationships with veteran relations and government agencies. Bill is a former army major who served 17 months in iraq and has experience working with veterans and Veterans Issues from his work on several Major Political campaigns and serves as Team Red White and blue for his local community in alexandria virginia. He has appeared on nbc nightly news, cspans washington journal and msnbc coverage of memorial day 2015. Last we have mark graham. He is the senior director at rutgers call center and director of thats for warriors. General graham has lost two sons in two different battles. One to suicide and another to an ied in iraq. Mark currently heads the call center and is the director for vets for warriors which provides veterans with 247 confidential stigma free peer support by veterans to activate duty, National Guard and reserve servicemen. Also to veterans, retirees, and their families and caregivers. We think you all for coming today. Now i would like to introduce senator donnelly who as a senator from indiana introduced his first piece of legislation, when he came to the senate, he has been awarded the action award from the foundation of Suicide Prevention as a champion of veteran and military Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. Senator. Thank you all for being here. To our panel, panel, thank you so much. We really appreciate it and to john and trevor, thank you. I guess the best way to start off would be to talk about the incredible dedication and hard work of all of our men and women who serve. Of the love and devotion of the people of this country, for all of them. I want to tell you a little bit about a National Guard unit in my home state. When our National Guard was serving, they were in iraq in 2008. It was extraordinarily difficult circumstances and when they talk to each other, other, they said we have each others back. Thats what we do. We have each others back. It was a group that was in a truck. One was a driver one was the look out who made sure everybody was safe and one was a navigator. They were all working together. For a year they had each others lives in each others hands. It was the most intense effort you can imagine. They came home to evansville and the streets were lined with people cheering when our National Guard group got home. And they did. They began to live their lives back home in indiana and from 2011 2015, four of the members of that National Guard group have taken their lives. It is heartbreaking that it has to and. That is what these wonderful people are trying to do. 2014, has my first piece of legislation as a senator, we were able to pass the Suicide Prevention act. What it did, jake was a a wonderful young man who served in iraq and afghanistan. His family and he helped provide coats and other things to the kids in afghanistan when it got cold. But jake had an unbelievable choice as he had to make and thats what our military have to do. Incredibly difficult choices, life or death, one side or other. He came back home on r r and when he got back home he took his life. He also told his dad before he went on it to her, he said dad i just dont feel right. Something doesnt feel like its working. Its not just those in combat as you all know. Its people back home as well. With the stresses of finance and family trying to balance the National Guard and a career and a family and the financial stressors. We want to make sure we are there for them. With the prevention acted is provide an annual Mental Health assessment for each and every service member, active duty, guard, reserve. Then provided Privacy Protection so there was a chance for them to be able to seek this help and be able to do it with privacy. This past year were hoping pass today, god willing, is a care package that says okay weve been able to provide an annual health assessment, now we need to find the providers to do it. So what this does is for private providers in evansville and all over the country they can go to places like the military Research Institute and get the training needed so that when a servicemember comes in or a guard member or reserve member, they know this person understands the special challenges they face. They get a certification with an online registry so that our vets and Service Members can go online and save this person gets it. I can talk to them and feel comfortable. Then the department of defense folks take additional training in suicide risk recognition. So they can start to understand and we also are trying to add additional physician assistant so we have more frontline providers to help our men and women. Our cardmembers, think of this, when they finish up they cant go to military treatment facilities. They cant go to va. They dont often know about other services that are out there. Oftentimes they feel like they are by themselves. There is a transition that takes place when you go from one to the other. We find ourselves with challenges as well. What that means, so youre in dod youre in that system, youre struggling and so they give you prescriptions to help take care of yourself. You become a veteran and they completely change what youre on because of xyz not being covered by va. Va covers fg age. So something youve begun to feel comfortable with and is working for you, it completely changes per we have to make this seamless. We have to to make the handoff seamless and we have to recognize, been a nation at war for such a long time and in many ways, young people like our cardmembers come home and theres a complete disconnect. Theres a disconnect to the community that loves them so much, to the world that used to be a part of but before they went and when they served, they see things and deal with things that completely change their lives. The incredible dependence of knowing other people count on you for their entire life. Theyre under incredible stress every day in our panel knows much better than i do. Then you come home and its just different. We want to be there to help but we not only want to be there to help, help, we have an obligation to be there to help. To make sure that if someone has a question there is someone there to provide an answer, that they feel comfortable that there is no stigma. That if theyre there feeling sideways, they know who they can call. They have the opportunity to talk to somebody. Thats our job. Thats what we need to do. We lost over 400 young men and women lashed year in the military. We want to get this number to zero. Trevor and john, thank thank you. To our panelist, think you so much. Thank you for your sons who have served and all your family has sacrificed we are incredibly grateful for your help trying to provide answers. Thank you very much [applause]. Thank you again senator donnelly for your comments and your true leadership in the United States senate to prevent suicide among our veterans, military personnel and provide support to their families. Next i would like to introduce yochi dreazen. Good morning its a pleasure to be with you on this rainy day. Setting aside journalistic activity for a moment, your activity on this is wonderful to see sen. I wish you were not so often standing by yourself on an issue that matters as much as this one does. I just want to talk briefly about the issue in framing a little bit and turn it over to my friend mark. In 2009, i began to hear from friends who came back that they would look in the mirror and not recognize himself. These are military friends i met over the years in iraq and afghanistan. You could see it in the eyes of their wife or their husband that they were scared. They could see in the eyes of their children that they were scared. They felt ugly and disfigured by what they had seen or what they had done. They knew they had changed but they didnt know how or why or how to change it. Some of them over facebook or email or phone began to say they are thinking of killing them self. They just didnt want to live in the way they were living. They didnt want to keep feeling what they were feeling. A couple of those i knew did kill themselves and this was shattering on a personal level. Setting aside anything john journalistic, these were guys ive known. These were guys guys who made it back physically unhurt for the most part but they came back with something inside of them. With the diagnosis they didnt know how to deal with. There was no support structure. As flawed as the active duty structure is, there is exists. The reserves has nothing. They came back to a civilian world that it was more disconnected than its ever been. They came back in enormous numbers. In 2009, up until 2009, military suicide rate had been steadily rising. The military response was we have a problem but you civilians have just as bad of a problem. That was literally true. If you look at demographic in the civilian world, men between the age of 18 and 25 which is generally demographic of the military, they were rising at the same rate. The numbers were roughly the same. 2009 was a horrifyingly important year. That was the first year where the military suicide rate rate exceeded the civilian rate and its just kept going. 2009 is when the rate pulled ahead and kept going higher and higher and higher. There had been reluctance at the higher level of the military took knowledge what they were seeing which is an epidemic. By 2009, that didnt happen anymore. They had no way of refuting what they were seeing in the numbers were so startling and horrifying. Knowing as many people who did were struggling, i began to ask the pentagon whether there were people i should get to know. People who were trying to fight this in a creative and energetic way. People had acknowledge the problem early and were dedicated to solving it. I kept hearing the name mark graham again and again and again. They would tell the story of him and his wife carol. I will let him talk about it, but it was hard for me to believe frankly because you dont meet generals who have lost children. You dont meet people that have served their country as long as people like he has pi went to fort carson to find out what he was trying to do and what you covered. Right before he got there there was a unit with a nickname of lethal warriors that had killed 11 people. Soldiers in and around the base. This had really never been seen before. This was new and horrifying he got there and have the darkness of suicide in the darkness of homicide. These are things he devoted himself to fighting while he was there. Part of the cause that he was trying to fight and what he had seenis stigma. What is that . How does it manifest itself. It manifests itself in a soldier who came back wanting to kill himself and putting black paint on a white wall. Thankfully he got the help you needed and was taken to a hospital and survived and is still life today. The military response was he defaced Government Property so we will charge him. This is a mother of a son who almost killed himself and called and said if i come and repaint the wall let my son go. They said sure. So she came and repainted the wall. They looked at the nicely painted wall and they charged him anyway. This is were talking about, the callousness and the in the cruelty. Were talking about soldiers and marine feeling that if they go seek help, their careers will end. They will be mocked by the people around them and seen as cowards. They will be seen as people who dont want to serve anymore. People who came back and are scared. Not the people who have anything legitimate, any struggle they will struggle to fight against. Theres one case i wrote about in the book in which a kernel felt the soldier was underperforming and tried to kick them out and said hes overweight in showing up late for formation. Theres something off about him. Hes getting into fights with other people. They tried to kick them out. Mark looked at the same case and said his record before he was deployed is perfect. Whats different. He has ptsd and he needs help, not to be kicked out. He saved the career of that young soldier. People in the military and look at the military from the outside, it is extremely rare for a general to reach down into his brigade and say to a kernel, youre wrong and reverse the decision. Its not popular. I spoke to the colonel and hes a very good man. One of the problems with this issue is that there are not only no silver bullets but very rarely is a black and white. Very rarely is there a villain or hero. Most often its in the gray. This kernel had a point. I need to deploy the best soldiers that i have in the soldier is not one of them. Hes not one of them because he needs help. Gives you a sense of the complexity of what it is that the military is fighting against. We like to look the military from the outside and say its its own world that were not a part of. The military has made a gigantic mistake by consolidating itself in places where the average civilian would never go. If you live in a coastal city, washington being the exception, you may never see anybody who serves except for in the airport. You probably dont know anybody who serves. You probably have zero association. Its not its own world. They protect our country and what comes from one impacts the other. From the moment it was created till 2010, more people died in car crashes than illness. That was the case quite literally from when the first model t rolled off the assembly line. In 2010, that changed. That was the year that the civilian suicide rate, the number of people killing themselves exceeded the number dying car crashes. If you think about that for a moment, all of us watching local news read the horrible stories of a crash on highway x killed so many people. But when youre seeing that, that same day, more people total, americans are killing themselves then are dying in this car crash. That is a staggering thing. I want to close with that because we owed the military more than saying thank you for your service. We know the military more than trying to understand that it is the military that reflects us. We know the military there it knowledge that we are the country that understands what it is going through and that we understand what those who serve are going through whether their guard or reserve or active duty, it doesnt matter. If they wear or have worn the uniform, we are either are fighting or have fought in wars, afghanistan as we know is not ending. We thought it was but its not. Even when these wars and, the number of ptsd will not end. Number of cases that manifest themselves for decades after a person has served will not end. Wed like to believe, i think in those in the military who are still fighting it, they know better. There is a hope out there that when the guns of war fall silent, the suicide rate rate will drop or slow. Thats just not true. Ptsd can go on for decades. They can be fine for decades and then 30 years from now something happens and they take their own life. Now we are seeing suicide rates among men in their 50s skyrocket. Some of these men have lost a job and are figuring they will never work in a assembly again. I want to close with that. I should point out that when we discovered we were having a baby boy and we spoke to our parents, my first call was to mark and his wife. As you listen to them, keep that in mind. Theyre not only speaking about or for the military, they are speaking for our country [applause]. Senator donnelly, thank you for your leadership and the legislation you proposed and we hope many more will support us. We thank you for what youre doing each and every day. As he said, hes family. Weve weve spent a lot of time with him and hes writing the book. Of course my good friend bill as well. Todays the marine corps birthday so happy birthday to the marine corps im an army guy so i will say tomorrow is veterans day and we all just want to thank our great American Veterans and their family and caregivers for all they continue to do for our nation each and every day. Who do you call when youre home alone at night and youre afraid, youre isolated, you dont know what to do or who to turn to. You dont know who to call. I run a program at wreckers called thats for warriors. Its an thats the number for warriors. Its 24 hours a day seven days a week, veteran answers the phone within 30 seconds of the phone ringing. Theyre trained in a program called reciprocal peer support. It set up where veterans answer a call in their support onsite 24 hours a day. No matter where you are and if youre active member, Family Member caregiver reserves, reserves, no matter what you can call the number and ominously or confidentially. We dont tell if you tell us your name or where you live. You can call and talk to a veteran who gets it and understands what youre going through. Twentyfour hours a day. Who do you call question on who they call in the middle of the night . I wish my son kevin had a phone number to call. Our son kevin died at his own hand. He took his own life by gun in 2003. He was getting ready to go to the army advance camp and finished his third year of rotc. He was a straight a student, a premed student was going to be an army doctor. He took his own life. He was struggling with depression. He didnt even tell his brother or sister he was struggling. There was huge stigma. He was on medication and came off his medication. I will never forget only found out later that one of the kids was using his computer and he walked out and said whos on this. It was kevin and he was embarrassed. He felt it was a character flaw. This isnt just a simple stigma. This is a deadly stigma. We can change. People say how going to change america can do anything if we put our minds to it. Our research and our resources behind it. Our son jeff had graduated from the university of kentucky. He was killed in iraq ten months later. They were best friends as well as brothers. To connect you to somebody they connect you to local resources there are organizations out there everybody is guarding their rice bowl and all the soy sauce. We want people to know we have a 24 hour days seven days ago week call center you are never alone we connected to local resources with whatever you need and ill give you a couple of examples a veteran in a motel recently struggling because we dont do crisis calls we had a veteran called recently after a long conversation they talked to this veteran to help convince them and they decided they were right he locked the gun in the trunk of a car then contacted the police he came and took him to the emergency room where they admitted in. And the said collins back when he is safe. Guess what the Police Officer was a veteran. He got a. Another is a grandmother recalled worried about her grandson has she got a note on facebook and finally started to make connections they got him help of course, he said grandma dont do that again. [laughter] but the matter the challenge they are there. The followup as long as it takes they called us and is to reduce clinton knows somebody will call me back. They need a safety net there in transitions we higher over 46 veterans so we hire and train them to do this great work around the clock. Prevention is key. To be the safety net with their transition out of the military with the normal drill status for there are so many times they can fall through the . In the want to be there for them. And wish my son had before he took his own life i believe that our nation each and every day were here to help and not judge we are here to help and not judge we will help them work through it together that feels like getting hit with a fire hose what is the toughest thing you are going through today . Up can we help you today . Lets do it together and one better in that time Army Navy Air force marine or caregiver at a time is how we solve this thank you again. For your great friendship by love your brother and things to all the veterans for your service this is the land of the free because of the brave dont wait. Call. You are not alone. [applause] thanks to mark specifically i know lark because we graduated at west point together and we were stationed with those places nobody would go to bed now want to go back and they said he would either marry her or go to jail and we are really glad he is part of the family now. We also want to think senator donnelly and the staff aide you so much for everything you do to change the culture and the stigma to promote community and awareness like you do. And two friends on the panel we talk about this often and in fact, industrialized this is one of the few times we have spoken on the same panel which is what probably gravitate toward this but i want to tell a couple of stories with a number one priority is combating suicide in this country in the first tory is related to a point that this is a problem for our country not just the military purpose of speaking of the recipients from iraq and afghanistan and most recipient medal of honor was involved in an attack and afghanistan were a friend of mine died and it started to think about that last night i was thinking of him as the most recent friend i have had to has died and asked who was the first person . Although scott died in a training accident and of the key was the first. And the first person in my class who died was a cadet who died by suicide before the war started and was home on christmas leave and did not come back we didnt know how to talk about it he is not on the web site if you look at the list of the names of the Fallen Soldiers talks about community and culture the culture is such we dont talk about Mental Health or suicide but one of the Amazing Things as an army veteran that i love about the legislation in the senator has sponsored and i believe will make a huge impact in the culture of the military is the annual checkup every young son who is to and has been to the dentist twice. Both painful this is both times. Committed is indebted he will go every year so what does that have to do with Mental Health . Everything because in this country the ada to get a checkup once your for your mental well this is foreign to most people so when you looked at in that context because it another component was april 2007 i was in iraq might commander said you have a phone call. I was with my battle buddied it was my father to tell me my oldest sister had died by suicide and had taken her life. Never served a day in her life. How did this happen in . I didnt see the signs it did not know them but to go back to the culture peace no one in my family was prepared no one in my community was aware what those signs were we talk about that the highlights the point that is a challenge for the entire nation and country so i talk about culture and community it truly does impact all of us a usually ask folks to participate so ask yourself how many of you know, someone that has died by suicide . Ask yourself that question. So why wouldnt we take action or more active in our community . Because it is the situation to talk about policy agenda it is powerful we have worked tirelessly in with partners on the hill looking at that policy component to Leverage Community and that is what it is all about so we are proud to support the marines is important to talk about this today but he could not receive the help that he needed and i think of those under not as driven or is motivated to have a more difficult time trying to get over those barriers and and i feel very privileged i have a the v. A. To go to another barriers to entry are different for each sector but i also think of my sister and others the reservists who dont have the access and go back into the small towns and they feel all alone in a very different way than they did on active duty it was uniquely different because i was already in the exact same community i laughed and that i had the same neighbors with that lack of community so tomorrow is veterans day were proud to have events across the country to come together and tomorrow is veterans day but every day we should be striving to build community to change the culture if you have read the book read the book is phenomenal. Educate yourself and get active in your community this affects the entire country just like senator don ho just like in alexandria new jersey ask yourself what can you do personally . We all those one that has been touched by this and there is something we can do about it. The key to be an amazing partner into my friends for sharing their story. [applause] i cannot thank you know for being here today as you talk about this subject at this point i would like to turn it over to the audience briefly for questions. [inaudible] that bill did a few things first and foremost, passed by this congress to address mentalhealth and is named after klay hunt user did iraq and afghanistan and. Is provided incentive for officials to go to the v. A. 34 the thousand dollars of student debt to help them recruit Mental Health professionals there is a shortage across the country and this affects all of us. Another thing it did was mandate freeing of many programs said v. A. Had into one location to find out where the resources are even with the assessment that there are so many efforts out there one of the challenges we had had we know what is working well or not a strike to look at things also we have called on congress to have a public hearing working with the v. A. And their Mental Health professionals to make sure they have the tools they need to implement and were confident over a threeyear period we will find ways to improve the services to replicate and learn from across the board. One thing president obama did for all of American History only those you died in service but it was not for those by suicides and he was the first president to sit down with those who died at their own hand but they will look to the families who lost one with that same level of grief because that letter said your son served with honor and recognize that as a country. I believe that was 2009 was there anything else you Want Congress to do to address . I think to build on the success there were some things that were not included we talk about access to care and currently i am enrolled at the v. A. As a fiveyear combat eligibility requirement add but we know many individuals to experience trauma in the challenges that they had that even older men start to see the uptick of challenges doesnt happen three years after you come back so the recommendation is to extend that at 15 years. Absolutely that is something that can be done to be a champion for the community at large has a package distaff has been working on that is very bold will we think is as the old policy that not only addresses the dod side but also the v. A. Side but there is the culture peace as well. Having the president sent a letter what a shift of culture. Each congressperson has the ability to do something to be leaders of change to use the right language i didnt know about the right language to tell my sister died they can speak intelligently and share their stories but a good policy would impact the culture and community aspect. The newspapers to report that we would be honored but were not notified. That is the hardest part for us. Is the suicide rate from operation in desert storm and operation freedom is it similar to the vietnam or korea . It sounds that we hear more about it. It is a great question the date data was not attract as closely so the feeling is that it is worse so what we think of as ptsd as there were different phrases so post civil war so you have that phrase in that number ended world war ii half a million troops discharge shoes psychiatric disorders such to fight as the greatest generation how forcible because they could not do any more baby they were shellshocked but ptsd he emerged from vietnam. Those studied the issue believe there are a couple of reasons but the multiple the plebiscites without question and a majority of those who have killed themselves have not deployed but still the units where they had so what they hear from the people next to them this is what we faced they are absorbing behaviors and also a Prescription Drug use is extraordinarily high it is too high in the civilian in the military world again. The military and its billions to control the amount tops it is like world war i. There are 58 men at that base of 53 taking Prescription Drugs theyre taking multiples like six or nine. They come back then they go cold turkey where suicidal thoughts skyrocket and a change like that can lead to suicide. It isnt something that happened in previous wars a lot of research is going to babette and of think we have any sense of how big of a problem is. Things for coming today to joyous for this important conversation. I have to think of our partners from the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention volunteers across this country and of all communities to prevent suicide with partners like iraq and afghanistan journalists and authors to speak up and out that have a very on the love of that this point with your wife your daughter in the important work that you do every day and have done to prevent suicide in the bill said earlier resonated with me that every day is veterans day were doing work every day to prevent suicide among our nations veterans and military personnel like the senator is, the white house, congress and capitol hill be will get the job done and prevent suicide. Thank you for coming out and have of wonderful day and a great veterans day tomorrows. [applause] [inaudible conversations] setting up political and state and Community Boundaries for the future in the territory Going Forward. And thats why congress to acquire New Territory from ohio to the mississippi river. And our new series looking at the president ial campaign on real america marking the 70th anniversary of the nuremberg trials the u. S. Are read documentary on not see concentration prison camps. A couple of days after dday and my captain was a new captain it was one of those times when somebody reached out to and i was left and off they went it was a week before i would rejoice my outfit. A former chief prosecutor for the misstates born to a jewish family immigrated to america he recalls a listing in the u. S. Army after lost will be designed to set up a War Crimes Branch to investigate not see a trusted atrocities. [appla [applause]lcme good afternoon banks for joiningjoin us on the topic ofal critical importance i am president of United States unitd institute of peace bourkewhite critical moment of syrian conflict that is an open sore in the middle east with a Global Security the arrival of refugees i with the arrival of refugeesn to highlight there are i 60 Million People with higher global conflict and 12 million are syrian. What and a quarter of a millionthe have been killed to date it is one of the most pressingof or statedies of our time. With the leading donor to grow more bloody and complex the community blister do the Work Together with the collective commitment to notw turn a blind eye. For those that go on display in syria to go to the u. S. Institute of peace of ae they committed a leader in ther local advocates for diplomacy and the beat veteran the chair to the Foreign Relations committeeary f now the secretary of state se secretary of carried knowster better than most the importance of leadership he has been tireless writer stand immediately following this speech to a head overseas to a round topea create peace in syria. Plse joi please join me to welcome secretary kerry to discusstegy the strategy for u. S. Policy in syria and his vision to end this conflict. [applause] tey thank you very much iof apologize to be a couple of minutes late i am delighted to see my friends and am pleased you can all come to share your thoughts thisi afternoon it is great for met to be here are want to take h United States institute of peace for hosting all of usis here this afternoon i abuse to flying longdistance is less so that is no less dangerousacrs ross 23rd street tis that this institute is a spectacular plays even though it has reached the o age of 30 my generation was taught not to trust anybody over 30 but now i am moreven than twice that age so dontur believe everything you are taught. [laughter] under the leadership of my friend bill taylor this and institute is hitting its std stride as a force for reconciliation and conflict resolution. Precisely because of the experience of his speed usaid is in fact, place effective for smart and smart energetic people come to help others and i amam confident that will remain th the case for many decades tocome come. Cotula congratulations to all of you for a part of that effort and i expect everyonell o off you to go right back to work and i am done. [l there is another reason i am pleased to be here is thename the very nature of this instituf institute, peace. Stre across the street in thebuildin harry truman building there are thousands of men andhose big women who work for peace every single day especially but it would lead to those millionspe of people includinge many who actually build that. N has said veterinary diplomats i personallyeli believe peace is as worthy of a pursuit as anybody could imagine is guided by principle or realistic vision is always worthwhile. And i hope they got i did not bother to stop people from killing each other. So it should not be a surprise that peace is the major theme this afternoon with my remarks. These are extremely complicated times end i a appreciate the sharia law summit our leaders will with an agenda that the United States of america is today engaged in more areas of the world with more partners in a time in history that is not exaggeration. Along with the pacific rim we have negotiated a landmark trade pact to buy together 40 of a Global Economy based on Environmental Standards and 21st century rules of the road. Working with local partners with access to appear in Food Security to insure that our success to slow the spread of hiv aids is a stated reaching out to the people of cuba but also working hard with the special envoy to move closer to a solution and to decades of the rebel group in europe we are Standing Firm in support of trade to send a strong message of message of strong message of reassurance to be upheld. We have seen the beginning of what promises to be the most Dramatic Program since the breakup of the soviet union. To destroy the of core of the plutonium reactor to the stockpile of enriched uranium. Finally at the end of this month i will join the president revere determined to negotiate the naturally ambitious to curb the Greenhouse Gas emissions her gore earlier this week to the overseas crisis by food in a water shortages extreme weather events in the movement of people away from various to go lager sustain life. To limit the damage to seize the economic benefits all from those of the transformed energy future. Reply all the stops from the consequences of morsi says san more delays and refusals to acknowledge what is taking place that is unacceptable so it is a lot more a complicated. There are more important subjects we could be discussing into the evening but today at the area of the world in one country that is a concern and that is syria. But humanitarian disaster that is unfolding with over in security and challenges and maturity of young people and their aspirations all of that is the major topic of discussion at the sharia law summit in the meetings that i participate in so i thought this might be a good time to bring you up to speed on the Administration Strategy in syria on decisions made on the actions that we are taking to build on in weeks and months to come. Syria as we know which is not just another country in fact, it is one of the first places that most of us learned about of damascus among the oldest continuously inhabited city is in the face of the earth as part of mesopotamia the cradle of civilization empires have risen and fallen and syria is a commercial crossroads. This is attributed to rich cultural mix the story of modern syria. To usher in the era of limited modernization ended the year 2000 assad was succeeded by his son raising hopes that the new leader chose not to fulfill. From the sparks of the arab spurring begin to ignite not by religious differences by the lack of freedom and jobs that is all they win assad and responded to Peaceful Demonstrations to send in thugs to beat up people when they objected and took to the streets themselves every she replied with bullets having made peaceful change then assad made war inevitable. This gave rise to 86 the gravest extremist rabbi our generation and the embodiment of evil and the results is four and a half years of nonstop or. One in 20 has been wounded or killed when and by as a refugee one at of two has been displaced the average Life Expectancy dropped by 20 years 80 percent of electricity has been knocked out plunging much of the country and the burden of the complex falls most heavily on the smallest shoulders. But the entire Public School system in favor sudden they closed then there are children whose birth in lebanon could not be registered because his parents were separated during the war he is neither syria nor lebanese and there are thousands like him. Those of their growing up in camps many without education in overcrowded apartments without a country to call our own. Make no mistake the longer it lasts the harder it is for the country to recover wounds that could never be true the close. Since i have met by many of those doctors are risking their lives were treating the injured despite constant attacks with threats of abuse soared bitter cold those that emerged with photographic evidence of what was inflected on thousands of victims and a few weeks ago with refugees who had survived the barrel bombs dropped from helicopters making their way to berlin in germany. From the beginning of this crisis that has ben discussed in public but has not been the subject of intense scrutiny. Whenever questions one might have of the content should be no doubt made to be for ending the crisis. That explains what United States supported the United States monitors white un ambassador Samantha Power for the humanitarian relief agencies and though as i became secretary of state and helping them in ways this is why we have worked hard to mitigate the incredible burden of the war displaced of their neighbors are iran, lebanon excuse me iraq. In order to keep the violence from spreading with the macs that massive influx of refugees that has spread beyond their own region into the heart of europe. But to date and as was mentioned we have probably given and attributed more than 4. 5 billion dollars of humanitarian relief and were constantly resorting to other countries to open their watch because as another winter starts the need alloways the supply. And then welcome to our shores of the United States now win assad attacked his own people with these horrific weapons president obama threat of military strikes to back down to enable us to strike a deal of u. N. Security council. But let me tell you something it is plenty good that that happens because you can only imagine the devastation the leaders if they couldnt get their hands on the arsenal of sophisticated chemical arms. Because of the list of crimes it is numbing. Smugglers or kidnappers criminals tablature teachers and burn books to execute journalists to do their jobs and average citizens not pretty debate have said or done before who they are. And what they believe about religion and in iraq dash fighters are off raping women and girls to teach the abuse of under age nine muslim girls is not only acceptable but a form of prayer and expression. En ben to commit homicides and suicides at the same time to pick up sledge hammers to destroy the 1800 your old roman arch ac is the director of antiquities in the Public Square to cut off his head to leave his body tied to a poll. He was 83 years old and was in charge of preserving the Cultural Heritage for more than 50 years. History doesnt matter and Human Dignity doesnt matter in the secret ct is alien to dash their leaders represent everything we fought against everything we have tried to build up that is right and good in all of society we face a fight against medieval and modern fascism at the same time. Let me be clear is that the fight to make on behalf of others. United states does not go and search of enemies. There is times they come in search of us we know that dash means what it says to attack america and attack americans and their interests. So the stakes could not be higher under obama was leadership to take and defeat dash not listed in anything they remain deeply committed to broker a solution and we have said from the beginning is a multiyear effort but as i will describe and we are cleared up the road ahead. This civil war has dragged on more than four years but regrettably but the intractable nature is attributable to a number of factors beginning with the assad government. To be dictatorial rule to choke off the political observation in the sectarian differences that could have worked themselves out bustard beneath the surface and then emerged so suddenly between their rising alarm once side and then might be the case by the involvement of regional actors especially has beloved intervened on the back half of assad and members that cross the International Border to be involved in this by. We face an environment that bears little resemblance of those scenarios that make them easy those that are not accustomed to working with each other but the truth is all those that assad and dash are part of the and then solve problem is directly attributable to the policy of actions that is why we have referred to assad as a magnet for terrorism. There are many that to suppose said enemy is our symbolic that drives thousands of syrians into the arms of dash and fear cause some serious groups to feel they had no other option that is in just symbolic but some biotic each piece designed on the of our that explains the massive refugee crisis today. The relationship between assad and dash that the two extremes have targeted one another. Their enemies far more in theory it neither has shown any interest to bring the killing to an and. Neither the dictator nor the not the answer with an asset an acceptable alternative and to the advent president obama and has set three interrelated goals to begin with dash the president made it clear the fed is states was committed to dismantle the terrorist organization and. To pick up the pace to move forward for a degrading and defeating dash more rapidly were completely and probably to intensify that efforts to bring an end to the civil war in syria. Because of its stability by the serious crisis does not spend further beyond the borders. These measures are mutually reinforce civil. The more progress we make on one the will likely be are to succeed of the others. President obamacare has made his clear view that it cannot be resolved and that remains the case but it is also clear that successful diplomacy depends on part to research leverage who is beating or has the upper hand. With the increasing evidence of iraq and syria that dash can be defeated or routed when faced with a combination of Coalition Airstrikes and effective partners on the ground. This coalition has only been together 14 months last summer it did not even exist. The call the issue has already made a huge difference to save peoples lives that evidence is there for everyone to see. From iraq and syria and the number is rising every day there are more than 40 just last night with another vital facility while preventing a terrorist assault on baghdad. We have driven dash from the critical border town predicting it would fall and how terrible that would be ended and fall because we stepped up and reinforced to provide that capacity and people could fight back. We have seen to creaked liberated to see the population about 100,000 people to rebuild their communities. In today as we sit here allied forces is are the berated to cut off highway 47 that is the main artery from syria into iraq. Including the deployment of thousands of american advisor to trade and assist Iraqi Security forces we have degraded their top leadership including the second in command and we continue to eliminate commanders and other personnel from the battlefield overall is unable to operate and to y of thitory co for. Etting. And what has worked and what has not and what can work for gore the president s direction and those lessons in mind were stepping up the strategy in all aspects and its director supplying partners with armored bulldozers ended put it to break down the defenses around the key city of for body. As they speak they have a calibrated effort to retake the city